Welcome to Lightman's Group, Wizarding Branch
by Amber Akasha
Summary: Lightman's Group has branched out and Harry is responsible for the Wizarding Branch. How will Harry cope with working with both his obnoxious boss, Cal, and the sheep of the Wizarding World?
1. A Failed Reading

_Story:_ Welcome to Lightman's Group, Wizarding Branch

_Summary:_ Lightman's Group has branched out an Harry is responsible for the Wizarding Branch. How will Harry cope with working with both his obnoxious boss, Cal, and the sheep of the Wizarding World?

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of his characters. I don't own Lie to Me, either. I (sadly) do not make any profit from this._

Hope you enjoy it!

Hum...english is my second language, so please point out the errors so I can correct them.

AN: Ok, please, **don't kill me**. I know it's been months since I last updated my stories, but I'm having a huge writer's block, and having anything to write at all was a godsend, so I just typed this when it popped into my mind. I am wrestling with my other fics, so this one will, most likely, only get updated once a month or so, but I will be writing this fic -I'm not going to abandon it.

Now, big question: (if anybody is reading) **Do you want this to be slash or not?** **Please leave the answer in a review.** **(THERE'S NOW A POLL IN MY PROFILE!) **Third chapter will mot likely hint at the pairing, so I need to know before I post it, say...before the 25 of february. On the 26 I will, count the votes and see if it will be slash or not. You decide.

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Chapter 1: A Failed Reading

Harry walked into the courtroom, browsing through his folder as he dictated several instructions to the young man walking behind him.

Why Cal had insisted on hiring a personal secretary just for him was beyond him. It wasn't as if he needed the star-struck boy to keep track of his appointments. He was almost inclined to think the only reason Cal had chosen to force the boy on him had been for entertainment value.

Feeling annoyed, he took a look at the defendant to get a feeling of his features, then growled angrily. Turning towards the prosecutor he snarled:

'You gave the accused veritaserum?'

The thin, mousy prosecutor smiled nervously, wriggling the hat he had taken off as soon as Harry walked in in his hands. He looked the part of the stereotype ministry worker, unnoticeable, mild, rather average. And lets not forget the whole in-awe-and-fear-of-The-Man-Who-Saved-Us-All.

'Two drops of veritaserum were administrated to the defendant five minutes ago, Mister Potter.' He squealed. 'Is that a problem?'

Harry stopped pacing, closed his eyes and slowly counted to ten.

"Don't kill the idiot, don't kill the idiot..."

Maybe Loker was right and he should take anger management classes. Some day. In the far future. Probably.

Inhaling slowly to calm himself, he let out the air he was holding and found himself still fuming.

'I believe I was called to perform a reading, as the defendant was suspected of being immune to veritaserum.' He stated, each word enunciated sharply. 'Of course, giving him veritaserum is the most logical thing to do when my readings are based on microexpressions, as veritaserum paralyzes facial muscles during the first twenty minutes after administration and keeps them slack for twelve hours after ingestion.'

'Micro...microexpressions, sir?' braved the man, eyes darting nervously around the room as if searching for an exit.

Harry signaled his secretary –what was the man's name, again? He really should try to remember...- to call Gillian, and turned to the man with an irritated sigh.

'You hired Lightman's Group's wizarding branch, which is certainly not inexpensive, and you didn't even bother to take a look at the instructions we sent? Well, that's not my problem. For the next twelve hours any reading I get from this man will be baseless, and most probably a miracle, seeing as he will have nothing to read. If you still want a reading, contact my secretary once the veritaserum's effect had passed. As of now, I have better things to do than sit around and watch a doped man.'

With that, he turned around and walked out of the room, muttering angrily under his breath.

Bloody retarded wizards!

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This was just a small prologue. Next chapter will explain how he ended up there.

**R&R please! Remember, you've got until the 25/2/2010!**** (THERE'S NOW A POLL IN MY PROFILE!)**


	2. How did I get roped into this?

_Story:_ Welcome to Lightman's Group, Wizarding Branch

_Summary:_ Lightman's Group has branched out an Harry is responsible for the Wizarding Branch. How will Harry cope with working with both his obnoxious boss, Cal, and the sheep of the Wizarding World?

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of his characters. I don't own Lie to Me, either. I (sadly) do not make any profit from this._

Hope you enjoy it!

Hum...english is my second language, so please point out the errors so I can correct them.

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Chapter 2: How did I get roped into this?

Sometimes Harry hated the World at large. Wizards and muggles alike, they had all hurt him, they had all lied to him. He didn't want to become a cynic, not in the way Cal did, but knowing the truth, knowing when someone was lying, was more of a curse than a blessing, at least until he found Loker.

He hadn't told anyone, of course –at first. He had always been able to read other people, as far a his memory went, and that may have been the only reason he survived his childhood–knowing enough to avoid some of Vernon's beatings, knowing when it was better to run or sit or be quiet or just stand still and take it. Knowing when to make himself scarce, and when to be on hand. It may not have stopped the abuse, but it had made it somehow bearable. Seeing the disgust in Petunia's eyes, and something else –fear?- that he hadn't understood at first, a mystery that had remained unsolved until Hogwarts. Seeing the small shake of his uncle's head as he told Petunia he had been working late, and knowing he had been somewhere else.

Catching the tiny, brief signals that broke down the world he lived in and reconstructed it again, somewhat differently.

Knowing that when his primary teacher, Miss White, asked about his bruises, she didn't really want to know. Answering he had fallen down the stairs. The brief flash on relief on her face before it was masked.

He should have hated the world, he mused, during his childhood. Between the Dursleys and just knowing the skeletons on everyone's closets, it would have been easy. But he saw other things, too. He saw happiness, and kindness, and little white lies too, to avoid hurting others.

And then, at Hogwarts, he kept seeing through everyone's lies. He had hoped it would be just a wizard thing, being able to catch lies. It seemed it wasn't. Ronald's fake surprise at the train told him everything he needed to know. Hagrid's forced words, which seemed unnatural, as if rehearsed, spoke to him about the role he was expected to play. Hermione's most obvious smugness, the small trace of contempt she often tried to hide when around both Ron and himself –well, it did give the game away. He had been surprised by many things –how come no-one saw through Quirrel's act? It was so obvious to him it must have been noticeable to everyone else, too- but he played along. He had learned, from an early age, not to stand out, and so he forced himself to act in the role he'd been assigned.

It did help him, though. Some people had proven to be more difficult than others to read –Snape and Dumbledore being the most glaring examples- but with time and effort he had managed to crack them down. He had been shocked by what he found –Snape had been quite convincing in pretending to hate him, after all, and Dumbledore's grandfatherly facade had been quite the work of art- but he had kept behaving as was expected of him, working on his spare time on finding a way to stop Voldemort from coming back.

Ignoring the warning signs of both the youngest Weasley's possession and Mad Eye Moody's impersonator had proven a grueling task, but he had managed.

Taking both Hermione and Ron with him as he searched for the Horcruxes, however, had proven to be too much for him, and so he had played on both their personalities to get them to leave by their own volition. He had finished the hunt by himself, performed a complicated ritual in order to rid himself of Voldemort's soul –he wasn't about to kill himself, after all, he wasn't _that_ desperate- and then faced the snake-faced man on the battlefield. Voldemort had been the only person ever he hadn't managed to read, his serpentine features too alien for him to get a grip on. Defeating the man had proven arduous, but he did it, and duty done he walked away from the war and disappeared into the muggle world.

He had been through so much, he just wanted to rest. Lead a calm, peaceful life.

He couldn't stay in England –too much of a chance of being found- so he moved to the States, and somehow found himself living in Washington D.C.

Not having any formal education, he got a job as a waiter in a small cafe near his tiny apartment. He may not need the money, but working gave him something to do, and if there was something he hated it was sitting, hand on hand, doing _nothing_.

That was how he met Loker. He had been working, as usual on Monday mornings.

He was handing a guy his latte when the man turned, checked him out and blurted out: 'I would like to sleep with you.'

To say he was shocked would be an understatement. Something in the way he said it, though, stopped him from punching the guy and walking away in a huff. There was nothing concealed in his face, or his body, or words, just...truth. That kind of things didn't happen; there was always something concealed, no matter how little.

He had given Loker the time to explain himself and had quickly been introduced to the concept of "radical honesty", as Loker liked to call it.

Work had soon put an end to their conversation, but the following day Loker came back for another latte, and in a matter of days he had become a regular.

Things like "You have beautiful eyes and horrid glasses" didn't surprise him anymore. Neither did Loker pointing at someone and saying "I would like to sleep with her, too". In fact, he had become used to Loker's radical honesty almost too fast. It was just so refreshing, so freeing.

In less than a month, they had become the best of friends.

Two months later, Loker introduced him to his boss, Cal Lightman. Well, if you can call saying "Want to get Gillian off your back? Here's the solution to all your problems" introducing someone. Cal's response of "That midget?" had't been very flattering, either.

It seems Dr. Foster had been pressing Cal into hiring another person for Lightman's Group's lie-detection staff, and despite Cal's contempt for naturals, he had said he'd think about it. During the course of the following week he had surreptitiously tested Harry on his deception-detecting skills.

Thoroughly satisfied, the man had decided the young wizard –though at the time, he didn't know that- was the best candidate to the post, and offered him the job. Though annoyed at Cal's antics, he had jumped at the opportunity, as he had grown quite bored serving tables and was ready to move on. Working with Loker was just a convenient coincidence. Really.

Even if he took the job, he hadn't been all that interested in the job itself at first. He reluctantly admired Cal's ability, that's true, but that didn't mean he wanted to be like him. And then, when the man started irritating him a little too much with his snide contempt –well, at least his _face_ did- and he went to Loker to vent, he had the gall to say "That's because you're uneducated(1). Hey, don't look at me like that. You're a natural. The few naturals Lightman's come across have one thing in common: No college degree. You haven't been asked to focus on verbal skills, so you focus on body language.(2)"

And for some reason he didn't want to dwell on, that little comment had spurred him into studying the science behind what he had been doing for his whole life. It felt good, studying for himself at last, being able to do as well or as badly as he wanted, not having to keep an eye on how people saw his learning. It was liberating, and strangely fulfilling.

Cal, of course, hadn't been very impressed with his new found knowledge, but as he progressed the man had grown to tolerate him, and dare he think about it, even like him.

Maybe he should have thought about it more in depth before accepting the job, because really, if being a wizard wasn't a huge secret he didn't know what was, and being in close quarters with Lightman five days a week was cutting it close. Less than a year had passed by the time Cal had forced him into spitting it out.

To Harry's surprise, it didn't get spread around. The only people ever told were Gillian and Loker, and the three of them didn't seem upset about it. Gillian had even considered opening up to the wizarding market, until Harry told her about veritaserum. The stuff couldn't be used in muggles –it required a minimum amount of magic to work, and so was ok for squibs but useless for muggles- but it worked fine for the Wizarding World. Harry had kept in touch with the Wizarding World via _The Daily Prophet _and that was it. Not much changed after the revelation, and though it had been rather anticlimactic, it was just perfect for Harry.

That is, until rumours started to run rampant about some people being immune to the potion. Incredible as it may seem, some wizards proved to be able to overcome the stuff. Potion's Masters around the globe were puzzled, desperately trying to figure out _how_ they did it. All trials were set on hold until veritaserum could be trusted. Two months after the breakthrough, they were as clueless as when they started.

Seeing as the Group was having some financial problems, Gillian and Cal talked to Harry about creating a Wizarding Branch, and while Harry would have rather given the money to them –he had enough for a couple lifetimes- he understood. They contacted Griphook, his account manager, and set things up for everything to be clean and legal. Three months after the breakthrough, Lightman's Group made the front page of the Prophet as they opened to the Wizarding World. Their first jobs were in the USA, then Mexico and Brazil, followed by France, Spain and Italy. England had been the last (to date) to hire their services, and Harry was quite annoyed over the results. Yes, he was Harry Potter. He had saved them from Voldemort. Couldn't they freaking get over it and start reading through the brochures?

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(1) and (2) are direct quotes from the Show.

I know this chapter is a bit boring -but I thought an explanation was necessary as to how Harry ended up working for Cal.


	3. No way

_Story:_ Welcome to Lightman's Group, Wizarding Branch

_Summary:_ Lightman's Group has branched out an Harry is responsible for the Wizarding Branch. How will Harry cope with working with both his obnoxious boss, Cal, and the sheep of the Wizarding World?

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of his characters. I don't own Lie to Me, either. I (sadly) do not make any profit from this._

New chapter! (And I'm really sorry it took this long... I've had problems coming at me from every possible corner)

That said, enjoy the chapter!

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Chapter 3: No way

Harry walked into the hall and ignoring the secretary he stalked into Cal's office. The woman seemed to have some kind of problem with him, which he had at first dismissed as her reaction to a new employee, but the barely concealed scorn her face usually displayed in his presence had convinced him of that not being the case.

He sprawled over one of the chairs, letting one long sigh before even looking at Cal.

'Remind me again why we took the British case?'

Cal raised his left brow, and let a quick smirk wash over his lips.

Running a hand through his messy hair, Harry let another sigh.

'Ok, ok, no need to mock me so. Anyway, it was a complete disaster, just so you know.'  
'You expected that. We expected that.'

'Doesn't make it any better. The damned idiot in charge administered veritaserum. What a bloody waste of time.'

Lightman smirked again, then abruptly stood up and motioned for Harry to follow him.

'What is it now, Cal? Because if I'm not mistaken that's the look you had at the start of the McRodell's case, and I'm never taking another one of those again.'

'You'll see' Cal answered with a quirck of his lips. It was just a short micro-expression –for some reason, Cal's default mode was emotion-suppressing – but it spoke volumes of his boss's mood.

As Harry followed him along the corridor Loker walked by, arms filled with heavy folders. He raised an eyebrow and Harry answered by nodding slightly at Lightman.

He sped up to catch Lightman, only to stop abruptly as he saw who was sitting in what Loker jokingly called the Rubik room.

His eyes widened almost imperceptibly, a faint line appeared in his forehead.

'That better be the best impersonator ever, because if that is who I think he is I will murder you, Cal, no regrets.'

'Funny that. Come here, you have to see him.'

'Oh no, I don't.' Harry turned to go, almost crashing into Gillian as he stepped away from Lightman.

'Harry? Is there a problem?'

'No Gillian, of course there isn't. I was just going.'

He tried to side-step her, but Lightman was quicker and grabbed his arm.

'You're not going anywhere, love. Clients await.'

'I sure as hell do! Let go of my arm Cal. Now.' He grounded out the last word between his teeth, just a warning, which Cal proceeded to ignore summarily.

'Now, you seem to have forgotten, but I'm your boss.' A quick toss of the head. So something was troubling him, then. Good, he was starting to think it had been his own imagination. 'And that' he pointed to the cube 'is your work. You don't get to say no, hon.'

'I'm not working with that little piece of shit for all the gold in Gringotts, Lightman!'

'Boys, let's calm down, ok? What is going on?' Foster put a restraining hand onto Cal's shoulder, a clear manipulator. So obvious it was difficult to miss, which was probably her intention all along. That woman had way too much experience with Cal.

'The little guy is just throwing a tantrum. He's in a stint about our latest employer.'

'Cal-'

'He is a murderer and I certainly cannot be objective or professional about him! I would rather choke that bastard than give him the time of the day.'

'You will be perfectly calm and professional. Don't be such a child. And he was never convicted.'

'I was witness to his murder, conviction or not! And I wouldn't touch him with a ten-feet pole.'

'Why don't we take it to your office? People are staring.' Gillian wanted to sneak a peek at the man who had managed to provoke such a fight between Cal and the new kid, but she didn't dare lift her eyes from them.

'There is no need. I am leaving.' Harry snarled the words, stalked through the door and apparated away, still fuming.

'Bloody perfect. Call him and tell him he's getting a salary reduction, will you?'

Gillian sighed.


End file.
